


An Interesting Question

by Beleriandings



Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: F/F, legendarium ladies april
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-10
Updated: 2015-04-10
Packaged: 2018-03-22 06:42:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3718954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beleriandings/pseuds/Beleriandings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Galadriel observes that Lúthien is rather bored in Doriath after so many years, and a strange new princess from across the sea who has appeared amongst them is the perfect intriguing distraction.</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Interesting Question

Galadriel closed the door to Melian’s rooms quietly behind her, stepping out into the stone-carven corridor. She wiped sweat off her brow with her sleeve, twisting her thick rope of braided hair up around her head into a little crown and relishing the feeling of air on her hot skin.

She made to unbutton her sleeves, before catching herself, realising she was no longer wearing the close-fitting hard-wearing garments she had become so used to for travelling, but the flowing silken robes of the court of Doriath, with their long, belled sleeves and elaborate symbolic folds that she had still not quite learned to move in without significantly increased risk of accident.

She had nearly fallen during her lesson with Melian, she remembered with a twitch of annoyance at herself. The queen had been testing Galadriel’s mental strength in the face of confusing visions that the maia had projected into her mind. Galadriel had dodged out of the way to avoid a twisting serpent that appeared for all the world to be lunging towards her throat, only to master her mind, to break the vision apart into spiralling flower petals with the force of her conviction that it was not real, mere illusion.

But she  _had_  come dangerously close to tripping, she thought uncomfortably, her feet slipping on the polished floor. She thought of Melian’s calm smile - touched with approval - and her response.  _Keep your focus and you will keep your balance, princess. Next time you will do better._

She was still thinking about this when she heard the quiet sound of laughter behind her.

She turned, frowning, to look up and down the stone corridor, but it appeared to be deserted.

She carried on walking, drawing herself up tall just in case there  _was_  anyone watching.

The quiet laugh came again, followed by a patter of footsteps.

This time Galadriel knew where it was coming from. And yet she hesitated for a while, pretending to ignore the sounds.

“You know, you should really learn to look up” said a voice from above, and that very moment, the princess Lúthien was dropping gracefully down from the delicate gallery above her, landing lightly on her toes right in Galadriel’s path.

The princess was barefoot and dressed simply but richly in sky blue silk, her hair falling loose down her back in a rippling shadowy curtain much like her mother’s, Galadriel thought.

“What’s to say that I need to look?” said Galadriel. “You assume I did not know you were there?”

“Ha” said Lúthien, falling into step beside Galadriel. “That’s exactly what you would say if you hadn’t noticed me.”

“But I did” said Galadriel, keeping her face determinedly turned forward. “Princess, you have my permission to look into my memories, if you do not believe me.”

Lúthien frowned a little, and let her mind touch Galadriel’s, who was taken slightly by surprise by the ease with which Lúthien accessed her thoughts and the princess’s adeptness, hastily pushing aside some things that she would rather have kept hidden.

Lúthien laughed. “Well, you Golodhrim are certainly willing to do much to keep your pride. What was that I just caught a glimpse of, hmm? Dark hair, tangled with golden, bare arms, a deserted forest grove…” She smiled then, mischievously, touching Galadriel’s upper arm. “Do not worry. I have no interest in trying to blackmail you.” She smiled sweetly. “I saw nothing, and even if I had seen something I couldn’t begin to interpret it.”

“Glad to hear it” grumbled Galadriel.

The two of them walked side by side for a little while, Lúthien matching her slightly longer strides to Galadriel’s.

After a while Galadriel turned to face the princess. “Meaning no disrespect of course, princess, but why exactly are you following me?”

Lúthien cocked her head at Galadriel, a small smile playing about her lips as they stood beneath a great stone arch, staring at each other. “I think we both know the answer to that.”

“Sadly, you’ll need to enlighten me.”

“I find you… intriguing.”

“And, pray tell, what do you mean by that?”

“I mean, that the court can grow terribly boring at times. Then someone like you turns up from across the sea, simply abandons those brothers of yours - ”

“I did  _not_  abandon my brothers!”

Lúthien smiled slightly. “Left. Escaped from. Decided to forge your own path. Whatever you desire to call it, princess.”

“Those things are not in any way equivalent to each other.”

“No, you misunderstand me. I don’t actually blame you, I found them to be somewhat boring, at least compared to you.” She stilled Galadriel’s exclamation of protest with a raised hand. “Do you want to hear me out or not?”

“…Yes.”

“You leave your brothers, take up with a princeling of the Iathrim, a young relation of my father’s - yes, I’ve seen the way you look at Celeborn, not to mention the ridiculously lovestruck way he behaves when  _you’re_  about - and my mother accepts you as a pupil? And not only a pupil. Do you know, my mother said you have more raw talent, more mental and emotional fortitude in you than any she has schooled in the arts of enchantment since she first started teaching  _me_?”

Lúthien sounded so indignant that Galadriel could not help but laugh a little, trying to conceal how much she glowed with pride. “Melian… said that?” she asked.

“She did” said Lúthien, casually. “Not  _better_  than me, mind. But she is impressed with you, shall we say. One wonders what she sees in you.” Gently, Lúthien took Galadriel’s chin in her hand and turned her face this way and that, staring into her eyes.

Galadriel bore this patiently, struck by the stormy beauty of the princess’ grey eyes, her perfectly heart shaped face and soft, full lips.

“But that’s not the  _real_  question” said Lúthien, jolting Galadriel out of her thoughts.

Galadriel sighed in mock exasperation. “What, princess, is the real question?”

Lúthien grew suddenly serious. “The real question,  _princess_ , is… what are you hiding from us?”

“I am hiding nothing.”

“Really.”

They stared into each other’s eyes for a long moment, before Lúthien broke away, with a shrug. “Alright. But a word of advice… I like you. I am fond of you, which is to say, I mean you no harm. And so I tell you, out of genuine affection, that it would likely be better for you - and your brothers, when they return, and even your whole people - if you did not betray the considerable trust my mother, my father and even your darling Celeborn have placed in you.”

“I am hiding nothing” said Galadriel, smoothing over and strengthening her mental barriers just in case.  _I will tell them all of the circumstances in which we crossed the sea someday_ , she thought.  _But the time is not yet right_.

Lúthien looked as though she had not even needed to touch Galadriel’s mind to read that thought there. “That’s fair enough” she said, considering Galadriel again. “Now, let us speak of better things.”

“Like what?” asked Galadriel, glad of the reprieve.

“Like your impressions of the court, of course!” said Lúthien, taking Galadriel’s arm with a grin. “Come. we shall go out to the forest, ostensibly to swim in the river - although - ” she wrinkled her nose at the dishevelled and sweat-stained state of Galadriel’s hair and clothes after her exertions in training with Melian that morning “ - if you like we can actually swim in the river. But the essential thing is that you must tell me all that you think about each person you have met here. And if you like…” she looked Galadriel up and down once more, critically this time, taking in her attire and the now slightly wilted sprigs of niphredil that were wound through her braid “…I can teach you how to fold your robes properly, and teach you the nuances of the language of the flowers that you seem to have entirely and profoundly missed.”

Galadriel rolled her eyes a little, but she was laughing. “You too, hmm? It seems like everyone here has something to correct in my manners and behaviour.”

“Have you ever considered that you have a lot to learn?”

 _Very often._  “Occasionally, perhaps.”

“Good.” Lúthien tugged Galadriel by the arm to the great doors that led out into the forest, smiling blindingly at the guards, who bowed respectfully and let her past without a word. “But mind, you must keep your promise to tell me all the petty and slanderous things you have thought about the members of our court. I promise to tell no one. I know a hidden grove that is perfect for the sharing of secrets.” There was a sparkle in Lúthien’s eyes as she pulled Galadriel along with her.

“My, you do get bored here, don’t you princess?”

“Most dreadfully” said Lúthien, suddenly serious. “But as I said, you…” she poked Galadriel in the chest, just where her breastbone emerged from her robe “… _you_  are interesting.”


End file.
